NYC settles case of off-duty officer’s shooting of two men

Officer Brendan Cronin, 28, of Yonkers, is an NYPD officer who opened fire on a car in Pelham after a night of heavy drinking. He plead guilty Sept. 22, 2015 to attempted murder as part of a plea deal in Westchester County. Photo Credit: AP

The city agreed Friday to pay $8.1 million to two Westchester County men who were shot at by an off-duty cop who got drunk at a City Island bar following a day at the NYPD Rodman’s Neck in-service training center and firing range.

Former officer Brendan Cronin, of Yonkers, was sentenced to 9 years in prison last April by a White Plains judge for shooting at two New Rochelle motorists idling at a stoplight in Pelham — driver Robert Borelli and passenger John Felice, who was hit six times.

Debra Cohen, a lawyer for the two men, said the NYPD needs to address alcohol problems in the ranks. “Stopping the epidemic of excessive drinking by on and off-duty police officers must become a public safety priority for the NYPD,” Cohen said.